By Grace Sweeney.
Your life will be so much better once you get this!” “These new (fill in the blank) are all the rage! You need to get them!” “Everyone I know has it!” “I want this…” “I need that…”
Does any of that sound familiar?
We live in a world filled with discontentment. Everyone is constantly wanting something more, something new. No one is content with what they have.
This month’s theme is contentment, but throughout the month you may have been asking yourself, “How can I be content when everyone around me isn’t?”
I understand. It’s hard to go one way when everyone else is going another.
The Tenth Commandment God gave Moses says, “You shall not covet.” The Cambridge English Dictionary says coveting is “to want to have something very much, especially something that belongs to someone else.” Or, put simply, something you don’t have.
God knows that discontentment only ever leads to sorrow in the end. We waste our lives trying to get more things, dwelling on what we don’t have and then our life is done. If we live like this we will have wasted life and ignored what is truly important. Remember that when we are content, we are obeying God. When we are not, we’re living contrary to His Word.
Matthew 6:25 says, “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?” In verses 32 and 33 Jesus says, “For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all. But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.”
Striving after the kingdom of God should be our first priority. Everything else is optional and most other things we don’t need. We need to be different from the world and seek after eternal things, not earthly things. God could give us those other good things, but He needs to be the first thing we seek after.
It’s hard, though, to get on the track of contentment, even if we know that’s what we should do, especially when everyone around us is not content. How do we block the world’s message out?
Paul reveals the secret to us in his letter to the Philippians. He says, “I have learned in whatever situation I am in to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and all circumstances, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.”
Reread that last sentence. “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” Through Jesus’ strength, we can be content. It’s not something we can do on our own; that’s why the world, who doesn’t know Christ, is rarely content. When we trust God and are confident in His love, we don’t need anything else.
Hold tight to God’s Word, trust that He will provide for all your needs because He’s promised to and you will find that the distractions of this world fade away. That is when you will find true contentment.
“The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:5b-7)
Amen, Grace.
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